1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to baton projectiles of the type used to direct a non-damaging impact force on a target.
2. History of the Related Art
Baton missiles or projectiles are provided to the police and security forces for use in controlling violent demonstrators or other offenders. Although the intention of using such a projectile is to subdue an offender without causing death or serious injury, the known baton projectiles have not been found to be entirely satisfactory in this respect.
A problem is that there is a conflict between the design requirements of an ideal baton projectile. The ideal projectile should be sufficiently strong to resist the force applied by the propellent used to launch it, but flexible enough to avoid causing sericus injury to the body of the target. Hitherto, pyrotechnic propellants have been used to launch the projectile from a gun, but even the most suitable pyrotechnic propellants tend to cause damage to the preferred types of projectile. The projectile must, in any event, produce an impact of about 200 foot-pounds (about 270 Joules Kg/meter) in order to subdue a person weighing about 12 stones (about 76 Kg)
Three properties of the impact of known baton projectiles on human targets have been found to contribute to injury and sometimes death. Firstly, the physical trauma of the impact force on the target can induce shock which can result in death if the impact force exceeds certain limits. In the past this has meant that baton projectiles had to be used from a distance of at least 25 meters, with a usable range up to 50 meters to ensure that the impact force would be below lethal levels but the required impact energy would still be achieved. Secondly, the impact of the baton on the target transmits a shockwave into the target which can causes shattering of the target, e.g. the bone of a human target, depending upon the nature of the impact shockwave. In particular, it has been found that a high speed of sound of the impact shockwave can lead to serious shattering of the bones of a human target. Thirdly, at impact energies above the acceptable levels penetration can cause unacceptable injury to vital organs in human targets.
It would be desirable to provide a baton projectile which overcomes or at least alleviates the above-mentioned problems.